Moon Over Maui

The Same Av Moon Everywhere

Written By: Jueli Garfinkle
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Aug•
18•11

The Av moon rose in orange glory over the East Bay Hills moments after we landed at San Francisco international airport. It greeted my family of four as we drove onto the ten-lane freeway abuzz with traffic and city-light stimulation. Rushing automobiles, big rigs, and the flash of neon billboards whizzed by me. To my right, across the Bay, rose the warm glow of a giant Av moon still low in the sky.

The Av Moon Welcomes Us Home to the Bay Area.

I felt comfort and assurance seeing the Av moon hovering above the greater San Francisco Bay area; the same Av moon that rises over Haleakala, the same moon that I sat beneath and searched for these past ten weeks above a small plot of land in the Pacific, the same moon that has been orbiting our planet for millennium.

Escorting us home, the Av moon played hide and seek. Each time the giant ball of Av floated into my view, I exhaled into peace lodged deep within me. I was reminded of the truth of the Av moon cycle: that love, joy, and forgiveness arise in the wake of sadness, despair, and loss.